State of Arizona Archives: on Corporations

Deedra Abboud:
Corporations great on taking, not giving back

Private enterprise is a beneficiary of public investments. Through our investments, the government pays for the infrastructure on which private industry and everything else is built. Roads, bridges, public education, national banks, the patent office,
the judicial system, interstate commerce, and more are financed by taxpayers. Yet the majority of corporations do not pay any taxes at all, much less 'their fair share,' and are often still beneficiaries of corporate tax breaks and bailouts.

Deedra Abboud:
Keep banks out of stock market; no more gambling

During the last banking crisis, Arizona experienced the worst housing crisis in our history. Private enterprise is not designed to self-regulate for the betterment of society; it is designed to make money for its owners.
The Banking industry is no different. It is time to re-enact the Glass Steagall Act or something very similar that keeps bankers out of the stock market and other forms of speculation/gambling that causes the taxpayer to have to pay when their bets fail.

Tom O`Halleran:
We should have nailed out the American Family, not the rich

While the American economy has improved since the Great Recession, much of the prosperity of the last decade has not reached the majority of Americans, and too many people are still working harder just to hang on.
The Great Recession was not a normal economic slowdown. Even before the recession, the salaries of middle-class Americans were already not keeping up with inflation, while our workforce was changing.
The economy went into an economic abyss, and American families and retirees lost their homes, businesses, retirement plans, life savings, and jobs.
Our friends, neighbors, small businesses, and American families lost trillions of dollars. The American Family was not bailed out, but many of those who caused this economic tragedy were--by American families.

Doug Ducey:
Former CEO of Cold Stone ice cream franchise

Most major business groups are not endorsing in the primary. That is mostly because there are supporters of Smith, Ducey as well as Arizona Secretary of State Ken Bennett and former GoDaddy general counsel Christine Jones on the boards of chambers of
commerce and industry associations.

Ducey served as CEO and principal of the Scottsdale-based ice cream franchise business between 1996 to 2007. Between 2001 and 2011, 42% of Cold Stone franchises receiving Small Business
Administration loans defaulted. Kahala Corp. acquired Cold Stone in 2008.

Ducey has very much hung his gubernatorial hat on his Cold Stone tenure. [His opponent] wants to put a dent in Ducey's Cold Stone credentials. "Mr. Ducey has so far shared
only half-truths about a venture that included failures, lawsuits, allegations of misdeeds and taxpayer subsidies," Smith said.

Fred DuVal:
Competitiveness Impact Statement before any new laws

New regulations should promote, not impede, Arizona's competitiveness. Fred will [require] publishing a brief "Competitiveness Impact Statement" detailing potential positive and negative impact before the legislation is rejected or signed into law.

Coming out of the Great Recession, it is clear that we can do more to grow our middle class.
In recent years Arizona has started to recover some of the jobs lost, but we haven't recovered enough of them, and the ones we have were largely achieved by adding jobs that don't allow Arizonans to financially support themselves and their families.
We can do better. As Governor, Fred will be focused on creating an economy that grows our middle class, instead of shrinking it.

Jan Brewer:
Lower barriers to business growth: keep regulations lean

While we lower the barriers to business growth--keeping regulations lean and taxes competitive--it's clear we have another problem: our own sales tax system. Arizona's local and state governments have created a tax system with so many twists and
turns that we make it difficult for businesses to simply pay what they owe. For business owners serving customers in multiple cities...

with multiple license requirements

multiple tax returns

multiple tax bases

and multiple audits

compliance can be nearly impossible.

But we must do more than simply thank our small business owners. We can adopt the concrete steps outlined by the special task force--steps that will simplify our sales tax code,
remove one more barrier to economic growth and make Arizona even more competitive.

Source: 2013 State of the State Address to Arizona Legislature
Jan 14, 2013

David Ruben:
Take corporate money out of politics

We need to take corporate money out of politics, Ruben said. Corporations will donate to any politician who will protect their interests, and politicians are unlikely to vote against the interests of their donors because they need the money to stay
elected.

If we don't remove corporate money from politics, then the country will end up being run by corporations, he said. The whole point of government is to do what the people want, not what the corporations want.

Richard Carmona:
Tax cuts for corporations are wrong & unconscionable

The biggest victim of the recent recession and 2008 financial crisis has been our middle class. In Washington, extreme ideology and hyper partisanship cause some to push for tax increases on working families, while protecting tax cuts for corporations
and special interests--that's not only wrong, it's unconscionable.

We need to rebuild our engine of economic opportunity not just because it's the right thing to do, but because America is at its strongest when it is powered by a vibrant middle class.
A vibrant middle class provides an infrastructure of opportunity for all Americans: good paying jobs, educational advancement and above all else, hope and economic security for future generations.

The first step we can take is to stop wasteful spending
and ensure that tax dollars are being used smartly and efficiently. And before we even discuss cutting benefits or raising taxes, we should ensure that we all pay our fair share in taxes, including corporations that dodge their tax responsibilities.

Mitt Romney:
We should have forced automakers into managed bankruptcies

SANTORUM [to Romney]: On principle, I opposed the Wall Street bailout. I held the same consistent position when it came to the auto bailouts. With Gov. Romney, that was not the case. He bailed out Wall Street. And then when it came to the auto workers,
he said no.

ROMNEY: Let's go back to the auto industry in 2008. The three CEOs of the three major auto companies got in their private planes and flew to Washington and said, please write us a check. I think they wanted $50 billion. And I wrote an
Op-Ed and said, absolutely not. These companies need to go through a managed bankruptcy, just like other industries have. And if they shed the excessive cost that's been put on them by the UAW and by their own mismanagement, then if they need help coming
out of bankruptcy, the government can provide guarantees. No way would we allow the auto industry in America to totally implode and disappear. With TARP, there were some pretty high risks that not just Wall Street banks, but all banks would collapse

Source: CNN's 2012 GOP Debate on eve of Arizona Primary
Feb 22, 2012

Ron Paul:
Auto bailout was bad because all bailouts are bad

PAUL: First, I don't like the idea that you have good bailouts and bad bailouts. If bailouts are bad, they're bad, and we
shouldn't be doing it. But this argument about maybe one that works, you know, the bailing out of GM worked, that's sort of like if a criminal goes out and robs a bank, and he's successful, therefore you endorse what he did, because he's successful. The
government is supposed to protect contracts. They're not supposed to regulate contracts and they're not supposed to undermine contracts. And that's what we've been doing. A lot of people will accuse me of advocating a free market, that there's no
regulations. Actually, the regulations are tougher, because you have to go through bankruptcy. And it isn't like General Motors would be destroyed. There were good parts of General Motors. But politicians can't figure this out.

Source: CNN's 2012 GOP Debate on eve of Arizona Primary
Feb 22, 2012

Rudy Garcia:
Decentralize wealth and curtail corporate subsidies

Improvement of our economy:

Decentralization of wealth and power.

Restructuring of our system of taxation.

Curtailing corporate subsidies.

Encouraging economic diversity.

Steady state economics.

Revamp the
SBA to make funds more available for minorities.

Improving the quality and quantity of the food by returning to grains grown from heritage seeds and we will be able to export more foods, help starving nations and improve our trade deficit.